Why don't I see

[WizardEQ]

We may be talking about similar things here. Consider an example.

Adam is a 26 year-old unmarried, investment banker. He makes $140,000 per year and drives a Porsche (leased of course), has a $10,000 Rolex, pays $2500 in rent, and allots $3000 a month to clothing and frivolous expenses. He buys material goods on a whim and doesn't put much into savings because his philosophy is live now. Because he works so much, he parties hard on the weekends and like to "live life to the fullest."

Bob is a 30 year-old married teacher with 1 kid. He makes $60,000 per year and drives a used Camry that he purchase with money down he saved for a year. He wears a $30 Timex and hasn't purchased new clothes in months. He and his wife have a $1500 mortgage and own a small starter home. Bob was careful to chose location over anything else, and now his house has 80% equity in it. Before any purchase, he careful does his research, a quick cost-analysis, weighing the pros and cons. Every month he puts away 10% of his earnings (over and above the 10% taken for his retirement) into an index mutual fund and has been doing this since he graduated college. He now has a nice little "emergency fund" of $50,000 build up after 8 years.

I know many people like Adam and Bob. Adam is a smart guy, but chooses to be ignorant. Bob is well-informed, again by choice. It takes effort to be either, but it's the choices they make that determine who they are.

Which person is better for society?

As a caveat, it really doesn't matter overall to YOU or ME. Each individual example is illusory, or simply a projection of our thoughts and ideals. What you do doesn't affect me unless I allow it to, and vice versa. We should all do exact what we want to do.